Wide-Angle and Wideband Millimeter-Wave Beam-Scanning Array Using Multimode Shorted Patch Antenna Elements for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Communication

This article presents a wideband millimeter-wave (mmWave) phased array with a large beam-scanning angle for the communication of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The proposed array is composed of 8 shorted patch antenna elements. The shorted patch operates in TM_1/2,1 mode. A T-shaped slot with dual resonance modes is etched on the radiating shorted patch. By combining the hybrid operating modes together, a wideband performance is realized. The beamwidth of the shorted patch can be increased by coupling with neighboring elements. The inherent wide-beam characteristic of the slot is fully utilized. Thus, the antenna element achieves a wide beamwidth of about 140° in a broad frequency band. A wide-angle beam-scanning phased array is achieved using wide beamwidth of the proposed elements. The measured result demonstrates that the proposed array can cover a beam-scanning angle of more than ±75° in a broad operating frequency band from 24 to 30 GHz. To validates its effectiveness for UAV communication, the proposed array is also simulated and measured on the model of an UAV.